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ALSO COVERING AUBURNDALE, COLLEGE POINT, DOUGLASTON, GLEN OAKS, FLORAL PARK
• LITTLE NECK LEDGER
• WHITESTONE TIMES
June 12-18, 2020
Flushing community leaders stand in
solidarity with George Floyd protests
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Flushing community leaders and
representatives of Black, Latinx, and
Asian American-led organizations are
standing in solidarity with protests
sparked by the death of George Floyd in
Minneapolis.
Floyd, 46, died in Minneapolis on May
25 after after Derek Chauvin, a white
policeman, knelt on his neck for nearly
nine minutes, reigniting the issue of police
brutality against African Americans
and Black people in the United States.
On June 5, the group stood on the
steps of the Flushing Queens Public Library,
at 41-17 Main St., condemning the
murder of Floyd, police brutality, and
calling for unity based on human rights,
justice and accountability.
The leaders highlighted the names of
recent victims who were killed in policeinvolved
incidents such as: Tony McDade
in Florida, Finan Berhe in Maryland,
Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Ahmaud
Arbery in Georgia, and Manuel Ellis in
Tacoma, WA.
“These names only scratch the surface
of a seemingly endless list of violence
on Black lives. Exacerbated by the
current pandemic, Black communities
have already been experiencing COVID-
19 related deaths at three times the average
rate, further evidencing the distinct
circumstances and structural inequities
along racial lines,” the leaders said in
their statement.
In Flushing, a largely immigrant
Flushing community leaders and representatives of Black, Latinx, and Asian American-led
organizations stood on the steps of Flushing Queens Public Library condemning the murder
of George Floyd in Minnesota. Courtesy of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce
community with the highest concentration
of Asian Americans in the city, the
racialization of the virus has led to a
spike in anti-Asian hate crimes and decimated
minority and immigrant owned
small businesses. Every week, long lines
to La Jornada’s food pantry have become
longer amid permanently shuttered
mom-and-pop stores and restaurants.
As Flushing residents and small
business owners continue to care for and
support each other, the leaders said they
“cannot allow the crisis brought on by
the pandemic to lose sight of Floyd’s life,
the layers of circumstances surrounding
his death, and the persistent systems
of violence and structural oppression”
against black and African people spanning
400 years of European colonization
of the Americas.
“We are committed to honoring the
wishes of George Floyd’s family and
amplifying their vision of justice,” the
leaders said.
The leaders are also appealing to
Asian American communities to reexamine
their role when participating
in the policing of other communities
of color and how to hold themselves
accountable.
This includes former Police Officer
Peter Liang, who fired a gun that killed
Akai Gurley in Brooklyn in 2014, according
to the leaders, and most recently, former
Police Officer Thu Thao’s role in the
death of Floyd.
“For too long, Asian Americans have
been propped up as foils to undermine
the struggles of Black liberation — from
the coining of the term ‘model minority’
in 1966 to undermine the Civil Rights
Movement, and more recently with
conservative Asian Americans being
used as a tool in an effort to dismantle
affirmative action,” the leaders said.
According to the group, structural
racism and the assault on BIPOC communities
is not isolated and takes many
forms within the criminal justice system,
housing, healthcare system, education
and the school to prison pipeline,
militarization of police on a global and
local level, and the harassment and
devaluation of Black life.
“Asian American communities have
greatly benefited from Black freedom
struggles and our shared struggles
against oppression and the fate of our
communities are inextricably linked: in
our struggles for social justice, none can
reach the finish line unless we finish
together,” the leaders said.
Vol. 86 No. 24 36 total pages
2021
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